Dear All, This is a brief up-date before we visit Kenya next month. More detailed news and pictures will appear after our return.

On Christmas Day Julius wrote:Merry Christmas to you all.We thank God for keeping us all safe despite the ups and downs in life but we are not complaining.Just inform you that the renovation of the old house is now complete and it looks very smart but the shelves for the store house will be done in January 2018, God willing.Thanks a lot for everything. May God bless you all for the good work you have continued to do over the years.Pictures of the completed work should appear next newsletter.

On January 11th Julius wrote again:Happy New Year 2018Praise be to the Almighty God. We hope that you are all well. Thanks a lot for your emails and the Riziki Quiz. It looks very interesting and I hope that many people will take part. (I have enjoyed a few hours tackling this quiz and almost completed it – about six questions still waiting for what I consider to be satisfactory answers. Do have a go when you have some spare time. - Ian)The Riziki children are all well and went back to school on 3rd January 2018Sorry to inform you that Ann did not perform as well as we had hoped in the KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) exams. She got 248 marks out of 500 and she was not called to any school but we are trying hard to find a school for her. (In spite of her medical problems, Ann has worked to the best of her ability and deserves to continue her education)About the cow shed. It is still needed. The only thing is that we have not been able to get a planner. We tried Peter the builder but he was not able to plan a good thing so we are waiting and searching.Thank you very much indeed for efforts not in vain God bless you all.Julius & Esther

On January 16th Liz wrote:Hi Ian and DianaHappy New Year. Its been a busy two weeks getting everyone back to school. The last one being Ann who got a local boarding school that Elizabeth helped us find. She reported on Friday and it was such a hectic, long hot day we forgot to take the pictures😊.Its hot, dry and everything green is starting to dry up. The tomatoes in the green house are coming up well and we expect to harvest in two weeks or less. In good news of the year we were able to harvest one bag (90kg) of sorghum that will see us remove porridge flour from the budget for at least half the year and the next harvest will hopefully see us end the year without buying flour. This was an initiative by Moses that we are proud of. (Moses is our gardener who works very hard for Riziki.)In other news we are talking to some people about recycling the waste washing water to see if we can reduce our water consumption, especially in these dry months, but all year generally. Will let you know how it goes.I am out tomorrow visiting farms to see, and get ideas of, economical cow shed structures.That's all from my end.😊

BlessingsLiz

On January 18th Julius wrote again:Dear Ian & Diana,Praise be to the Almighty God we all thank Him for keeping us safe. The Riziki children are also well despite a few cases of sickness here and there but none of them is serious.As Liz mention we managed to get a school for Ann through Elizabeth’s connections and she reported on 12th January 2018One of the cows gave birth to a male calf a few days ago. (Our cows seem to have difficulty producing female calves!)It is too hot, very dusty and very dry but we hope rains will come one day God willing.Julius & Esther

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. Your interest in Riziki is much appreciated. Without your help, Riziki could not exist.

Riziki News – December 2017Dear All,News came from Kenya just after I had sent out the October newsletter, so I include it here:On October 19th, Julius wroteAll the children continue to do well in school both primary and secondary, their performance is very encouraging indeed. Ann Wanjiku is sitting for her KCPE exam this year in November 2017 and we hope that she will do well to qualify for secondary school.Alex Mwaniki fell sick in school on 16th September. He complained of stomach-ache and was taken to Kabarak. After a stool test, nothing was found. Next day, when I went to Riziki, I found that he was still in pain so I asked Sarah to take him back on the Monday. At around 11am, Sarah called me from the hospital. She said Alex's case was an emergency and he needed to be taken to a bigger hospital. The doctors wanted to call for an ambulance but Sarah told them that I was on the way.When I arrived I found Alex on a recovery bed with a drip. After a little chat with the doctor he gave us a written report and we left for St. Mary's hospital where he was admitted after a scan showed that his appendix was swollen and about to burst. It was removed immediately and he stayed in hospital for 3 days. The wound is healing, but slowly. He goes for dressing alternate days at Kabarak.About my eye: I had an appointment for body tests on 21st September but I postponed because Alex was leaving the hospital on that day. On 22nd I went and all the tests were done and results were negative. I was given eye drops to use for 3 days before the surgery which was on 25th. It was done succesfully and on 26th I went back for the check up, after which the eye was covered to be opened only when putting medicine in. I was instructed to avoid computer and any other very bright lights for a period of 2 weeks or so. On 10th October, I went back for check up and the doctors said it was healing well. To my suprise I was told that there was a stitch to be removed from the right eye which was operated on in 2015 and they removed it.In August during the school holiday Liz organised a children's church and 250 children of upper primary and secondary from the community attended and it was great.On 24th September the children were invited by a church in Nakuru to join them for a church day out. They went to Bahati, on the way to Nyahururu, and stayed the whole day. They were given food and drinks, and enjoyed themselves very much.On Thursday 5th October 2017 in the afternoon a group of twelve KPLC (Kenya Power & Light) staff visited Riziki. They brought with them some gifts and on top of the gifts they cleared a power bill of KES. 16,000. They had a good time with the children, who had left school earlier at 3.30pm, immediately after classes, so as to welcome the visitors who had told us they were coming. We thank God for their generousity.In August the Solar system broke down – the inverter got burnt out and we were forced to buy another one. In September the house chimney was once again blown by the wind. A new one has replaced it from the stove inside the kitchen to the top.In September the Solar batteries stopped to work. We stayed without the solar until October when we negotiated a deal with Chloride Exide Batteries Nakuru to give us 3 batteries on an invoice to pay after 30 days. The price is KES.97,200/-, including VAT and installation cable They said the new batteries will last longer than the normal black batteries.I have also received the end of year school reports which show that nearly all the children are making very good progress with one being the best in the year and several others in high places

Julius wrote this week (mid-December):-Praise be to the Almighty God. We hope that you are all well. Thanks a lot for your emails and the Christmas news letter; also thank you for the Christmas card you sent to the children.We thank God for keeping us all safe despite the many things which have been happening since August 8th 2017 we thank God the country is still calm.The Riziki children went to their relatives on Sunday the 10th December 2017 and they will come back on 31st December to prepare for school on 3rd January 2018, God willing.I am pleased to inform you that the outhouse (original buildings) renovation started on 6th December when the materials were bought but the work commenced on the 7th and is still continuing we hope that the work will be completed next week.

WE ALL WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018.

Liz wrote also:- November was quite busy for us and the children, especially as they were engaged in harvesting the maize. The big boys worked every day from 7am to 1pm cutting maize stalks down while the other children followed from 10am to 1pm removing cobs from the stalks. They worked well together everyday and we were able to get all the maize from the shamba, dry it and store. We successfully stored 33bags of maize in the silos before the children left for home.All is well with the farm. We have a new crop of tomatoes in the green house waiting for February -March a good market period for tomatoes. We also have some butter nut and potatoes and a small portion of late beans.We decided to keep the bull and probably slaughter it ourselves for meat. Well, that has not been fully decided yet. We expect a new cow in January and so am really looking forward to the new cowshed and some extra space to store hay. We have been lucky to have a bit of rain towards end of the year so we were able to store a reasonable amount of hay.We had an end of year party for the kids. We invited some of the people who have either volunteered or worked with us this year. We had lunch during the day and a brief carol service in the evening, which the kids ran beautifully (considering they had only one week of practice). We had decorations up as well as the tree, which Tony and Richard were responsible for and did an awesome job.I have pictures but I have been having trouble sending through yahoo some of them don't get through and those that do take too long to load.All staff are on a break till 29th, except Moses, who is holding the fort. That is all from my end. I wish you and all Riziki supporters a Blessed Christmas. We appreciate all of you.Baraka,Liz

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. Your interest in Riziki is much appreciated. Without your help, Riziki could not exist.